Worcester Business Journal

16 Worcester Business Journal | September 13, 2021 | wbjournal.com F O C U S D I V E R S I T Y & I N C L U S I O N N ews media in Central Massachusetts has a diversity problem. Although tasked with reporting on a diverse array of communities – U.S. Census Bureau data shows 31% of Worcester residents are nonwhite, with about 26% of residents identifying as nonwhite throughout Worcester County – all editors and editorial leads at organizations which provide daily news coverage in Central Massachusetts are white men. Full disclosure, that includes the Worcester Business Journal. e homogeneity among news editorship in Central Massachusetts is not unique to the region, but it does bring with it inherent questions about who decides what stories are newsworthy, and who decides how they are told. "Newsroom management [positions] have historically been held by white males, and that impacts the news product," said Daniel Hunt, associate professor of communication and director for the Center for Community Media at Worcester State University. "Editors and managers make important editorial decisions that are guided by their backgrounds, and that's going to effect the audience they serve." White newsrooms Nationally, 19% of news managers are people of color, according to the 2018 American Society of News Editors Newsroom Employment Diversity Survey, the most recent year in which the survey was conducted. However, the ASNE noted that year also had the lowest participation rate in the survey's Who tells the news 40-year history. e year before, the percentage of people of color who held newsroom manager positions was 13.4%. e trend toward whiteness in newsroom management appear to have trickle-down consequences for staffing, with the ASNE reporting newsrooms with racially diverse leadership tend to have a more racially diverse staff. In tandem with this, a 2018 report from the Pew Research Center in Washington D.C., pulling data from the 2012-2016 American Community Survey from the Census, found 77% of newsroom employees around the U.S. are non-Hispanic whites. at data included jobs like reporters, editors, photographers and videographers in newspapers, broadcast journalism and online-only outlets. All newsroom staff at WBJ are white, including this reporter. e same Pew Research report indicated 61% of newsroom employees are men, with 48% reported as non- Hispanic white men. e Telegram & Gazette, Worcester's oldest operating daily newspaper and the paper of record for the region, acknowledged in August 2020 its staff did not reflect the diversity of the communities it covers, and promised to do better, in an op-ed published by Executive Editor Dave Nordman. "We will recruit people with diverse voices from the community or local colleges to contribute to our opinion and commentary pages," Nordman wrote at the time. "We must amplify voices that historically have not had an opportunity to reach our readers." e op-ed was published as part of a wider News staff in Central Mass. skews white, especially among newsroom leaders, impacting what stories are told and how BY MONICA BENEVIDES Worcester Business Journal Senior Staff Writer Andy Lacombe, news director of Spectrum News 1 Brad Kane, editor of Worcester Business Journal Dave Nordman, executive editor of Worcester Telegram & Gazette Hank Stolz, host of Talk of the Commonwealth Ed Kubosiak (left), vice president of content for MassLive Daniel Hunt, director of WSU Center for Community Media PHOTO/COURTESY OF SPECTRUM NEWS 1 PHOTO/MATT VOLPINI PHOTO/COURTESY OF TWITTER PHOTO/COURTESY OF TWITTER PHOTO/COURTESY OF TWITTER

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